The chief executive (CEO) of Kangwon Land Inc, operator of Kangwon Land (pictured) a resort with the only casino in South Korea open to locals, resigned on Friday morning during a company meeting, reported local media outlets.
In April 2021, Lee Sam-Geol had been appointed for a three-year term, due to run until April 2024.
“I am leaving while Kangwon Land [Inc] is in a difficult situation, but hope the remaining personnel work harder,” to preserve the organisation’s legacy, he was cited as saying.
The firm’s Kangwon Land resort is in a remote upland area a three-hour drive east of Seoul. Part of its function is to support economically the local community, a former mining district.
South Korean news outlets said that politicians, local community representatives, and some of the firm’s personnel, had been calling for Mr Lee to resign. Media cited community figures mentioning alleged “lack of communication” and “ignoring of local small business” on the part of Mr Lee.
Choi Cheol-Gyu, a former aide in the Office of the President of the Republic of Korea, is due to be ratified as a vice president of Kangwon Land Inc, at a scheduled shareholder meeting on December 5 according to media reports.
In June, the government’s annual “public organisation performance evaluation” gave the firm a “D” grade – said to be Kangwon Land Inc’s lowest ever rating. Factors cited included a lack of “customer-attracting content” at the resort, labour cost inefficiencies, workplace sexual harassment and bullying, and corruption related to staff recruitment.
That month also saw the company fined KRW3.23 billion (US$2.5 million currently) for 182 anti-money laundering violations.
